Family Policies in Double Earner Families in Mexico

Double earner families have increased in the last 30 years in Mexico. Today, about 1 out of 3 or 4 biparental households are families formed by couples with both members at work. Though this figure varies according the different regions of the country, the types of localities and socioeconomic groups, the increase is important. This fact implies tensions and needs resulting from the relationship between family and work.

Within this framework, the hypothesis of the paper is that these tensions haven´t been sufficiently addressed in the complexity that this phenomenon represents. On the one hand, there is a lag in policies supporting families; and, on the other, there is a maladjustment between the cultural norms, understood as institutions that regulate behaviors, and the emergence of new values and practices promoted precisely by the changes involved in the double-earner families phenomenon. With this aim in mind, the paper will make a general assessment of the main actual programs, institutions, and public policies (such as child caring, parenting, policies addressed to save or balance time). Emphasis will be made particularly on the type of policies, its reach or coverage, its integral character, and the normative and cultural assumptions implied by them. Likewise, an analysis on how the tensions between practices and values within double-earner families are or not incorporated on the actual policies will be made.